INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev.— The long awaited discussion for golf rates and operations brought dozens of people to The Chateau on Monday at the Incline Village Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, May 8. 

After over an hour and a half of public comment, which expressed multiple views on the changes proposed for the courses, many questions were raised about the the total elimination of the All-You-Can-Play pass, along with the fairness of golf clubs receiving first pick on tee-times at the golf courses. 

IVGID General Manager Indra Winquest answered questions with Director of Community Services/Golf Dan Howard and Director of Finance Paul Navazio, who both worked close with Trustee Sara Schmitz on the historical financials of the courses, along with recommendations on how to update rates, rate structure, and overall operations at the courses.

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“In the 20 years that I’ve been here with the district, I’ve seen this conversation many times,” Winquest said. “The one thing I will say that is different this time is the amount of material and the thorough, what I would consider an extreme deep dive of golf, in particular financially … Even though it was a tremendous amount of work, I believe it is very valuable work, and I’m thankful that we went through the process.” 

Many of the recommendations made by staff passed through with a few small changes, including increasing Non-Picture Pass Holder rates by 8% at the Championship Course, and the Non-PPH daily rate by 12% on the Mountain Course. Picture Pass Holders will see 50% of a 5% increase in rates at the Championship Course, and an 8% increase at the Mountain Course, as well as guest daily rates. 

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In addition, shoulder season rates at the mountain course were eliminated and replaced with peak season rates. 

Other decisions that went through with little discussion by the board included the elimination of pre-book fees for all PPH at both courses, while retaining it for Non-PPH. 

In order to keep people from booking in advanced more often and canceling due to there no longer being a booking fee, the board decided to change the cancellation fee policy to a 50% fee if cancelled within 120 hours, and a 100% fee if canceled within 72 hours. Staff will continue to monitor in order to determine if there needs to be further changes regarding the pre-book fee and cancellations. 

One recommendation by staff was to eliminate the All-You-Can-Play pass and replace it with 10, 20, 30, and 40, and 40-plus play passes, but Trustee Michaela Tonking expressed concern over completely eliminating them and attempted to work with trustees and Howard to find a solution that would not only get the district closer to cost recovery on the product, but also allow the phasing out of it in the future. 

The decision ultimately was to utilize the 10, 20, 30, and 40 play passes, and also keep the All-You-Can-Play pass, raising the rate by 20% with limitations on when players can use it. 

The board moved a number of conversations to a future meeting, including conversation surrounding golf clubs. While staff initially suggested to restrict golf club reservations during peak-season Fridays though Sundays to tee times after 11 a.m., the board felt that it was important to continue the conversation with IVGID’s legal team in order to determine policy on golf clubs in general. 

“There’s never been board discussion about the rules of administering a golf club,” said Schmitz. “We are a government, so I think that part of what we need to do is to understand sort of where we are, but also understand and make sure that we are within the law as it relates to governmental activities for these types of clubs.” 

Other questions for the fate of golf clubs include the potential of limiting the percentage of tee times reserved by clubs, and potentially charging them an annual administrative fee. 

“I think there are some areas that we need to address when it comes to liability and legality as it relates to our practice and we do need to wrap some of this stuff into a policy,” said Chairman Matthew Dent. 

The board agreed that creating a board advisory committee, and it would become a board topic at a June meeting.